Week 12

This is it! The last diary entry! Looking back on all my diary entries I must say that we learned an amazing amount of material this semester. Coming into this class I knew that the brain was a complex structure but I was completely unprepared for it to be so intricately connected within itself. Although the brain has specialized areas for our many different senses and abilities, they are all interconnected and constantly effecting each other without us even knowing it. The more I learn about the brain the more questions I have; its possibilities seem infinite.

I think the Sacks book was definetely an essential part of this course as it demonstrated how our perceptions can go haywire by one small lesion or chemical change. Just thinking about the fact that all the chemical and physical properties that make one think, see, hear and feel are orchestrated to work properly in the majority of the population is amazing. Next semester when I'll be taking cellular and molecular neuroscience we'll be learning about the even finer components of the nervous system. Hopefully what I've learned this semester will be retained over the summer in my long term memory and will be of use to me in the fall when my brain is ready to work and not ready for the summer like it is now!